Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his policies of potential changes in the sovereignty of the British Indian Ocean Territory; and what assessment he has made of the relevance to those policies of the lessons learned from the lease of Hong Kong from China.

The UK and Mauritius have decided to begin negotiations on the exercise of sovereignty over the British Indian Ocean Territory/Chagos Archipelago. You will appreciate that we are not able to provide any detail on the content of ongoing discussions, or speculate on the possible outcome of negotiations. However, we will keep Members and Parliament informed at key junctures.